Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) joins together cities from across the world around the common objective of harnessing the potential of culture and creativity for a sustainable future. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people everywhere, and the culture sector has in many ways come to a standstill – cultural events, cinema, theatre and music performances have been cancelled, international tourism has largely ceased, restaurants and markets have closed, amongst others. This has not only impacted the sectors concerned, but also the public, which tends to turn to cultural products and services for education, entertainment, leisure, personal development, or social engagement. While this undoubtably has a serious impact on the economic viability of the cultural sector, the sector's fundamental creativity and ability to inspire social connection remains intact. The information submitted by over 90 Creative Cities from 44 UNESCO Member States shows how cities have come together to nurture new ideas and projects by connecting people to culture and creativity during the pandemic.

As  the  COVID-19  pandemic  spreads,  most  governments  around  the  world  have  temporarily  closed  educational  institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the disease. These nationwide closures are not only impacting hundreds  of  millions  of  students,  they  are also  affecting  the  capacity  of  national education planning units  to monitor education outcomes. During these trying times, when countries need data more urgently than ever before to plan and monitor emergency response efforts and prepare for medium- and long-term mitigation and recovery strategies, statistical operations and other office activities are being seriously disrupted or interrupted.  The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has therefore launched and conducted a survey of COVID-19 pandemic impacts on national education planning units. The questionnaire is designed for statistical planning units in charge of national education statistics. The survey is available in four languages (English, French, Spanish, and Russian) and can be submitted by email or through the online survey platform. Therefore, the greatest degree of survey participation, integrity, and confidence in the quality of the data are ensured.

Women and girls in Bangladesh are facing increased domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is highlighting pre-existing systemic barriers to legal recourse, protection, and social services. This crisis comes as Bangladesh marks the anniversaries of two landmark pieces of legislation on gender-based violence (GBV) and enters the final phase of its plan to build a society free of violence against women and children. Despite this, evidence shows that women and girls still face extreme levels of violence. It is also apparent that survivors of GBV have little or no access to support or legal recourse. This report draws on 50 interviews to document the obstacles to realizing the Bangladeshi government’s goal of a society without violence against women and children. It presents key findings, as well as recommendations on how to move forward.

In addition to its immediate adverse impact on women’s and girls’ health and education, the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to further exacerbate existing gender inequalities in economic opportunities across Sub-Saharan Africa. This brief highlight evidence from the Africa Gender Innovation Lab and other promising research on mechanisms that can help protect the lives and livelihoods of women and girls - at the household level, in firms and farms, and during adolescence - in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. While these interventions focus on improving economic and social outcomes for women, many of them also have positive impacts for men. 

The COVID‐19 pandemic has thrust the world into a crisis – and the child welfare system is particularly susceptible to its effects. This pandemic has exacerbated some of the most problematic aspects of the system, and its impacts will reverberate long after the immediate crisis ends. As COVID‐19 spread, families were instantly impacted – in‐person family time was cancelled, youth and families were unable to access basic resources, services, and technology, and access to the courts was curtailed.

This cross-sectional survey, conducted in India, aims to assess the impact of online classes on the children and parents/guardians. It was conducted during the period of 21st June 2020 to 17th July 2020 among the guardians of children attending the online classes,

The COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown response has had a disproportionate and damaging effect on the lives, mental health and well‐being of young people globally. They have been neglected in policy‐making and their needs have been subjugated to those of adults which contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This commentary argues that the needs and rights of young people must come first to protect their health, mental health and futures.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures employed by the government have forced neurologists across the world to look upon telemedicine as the only feasible and practical option to continue providing health care towards children with epilepsy in home isolation. Children with epilepsy are challenging for teleconsultation as direct information from the patient is missing, regarding seizures and adverse effects, especially behavioral and psychological side effects.

Whilst there is broad consensus that COVID-19 has had a pernicious impact on child welfare services, in general, and child welfare workers, specifically, this notion has not been thoroughly examined in the literature. This exploratory study examined COVID-19 related peritraumatic distress among child welfare workers (N = 1996) in one southeastern state in the United States (U.S.). Findings suggest that the study sample was experiencing distress levels above normal ranges; 46.4% of participants were experiencing mild or severe distress. Sexual orientation, self-reported physical and mental health, relationship status, supervision status, and financial stability impacted distress levels experienced by child welfare workers. Overall, data suggest that COVID-19 is impacting child welfare workers and there is a need to conceptualize, implement, and evaluate initiatives aimed at assuaging distress among child welfare workers.

The ecosystemic approach to children’s needs demands a cohesive response from societies, communities, and families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the choices societies made to protect their community members from the virus could have created contexts of child neglect. With the closure of services and institutions, societies were no longer available to help meet the needs of children. The purpose of this study is to examine parents’ reports on the response their children received to their needs during the COVID-19 crisis. During the period of the spring 2020 lockdown, 414 parents in the province of Quebec, Canada, completed an online questionnaire about the impact of the crisis on the response their children received to their needs.

This paper aims to identify the risk factors for redetectable positivity, and to provide a basis for prevention and control of coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) in children. A retrospective study was performed on all pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID‐19. Redetectable positivity was defined as the positive result of real‐time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) after symptom resolution and discharge. Children were defined as being less than 18 years old.

As with other types of coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 affects children less frequently, and it has been observed that the disease is mild. In the pathogenesis of a standard viral infection, the pathogen’s contact with the mucosa is initially followed by an innate immunity response. T cells are the primary decisive element in adaptive immunity capability. For this reason, the adaptive immune response mediated by the thymus is a process that regulates the immune response responsible for preventing invasive damage from a virus. Regulatory T cells (T-reg) are active during the early periods of life and have precise roles in immunomodulation. The thymus is highly active in the intrauterine and neonatal period; it begins to shrink after birth and continues its activity until adolescence. The loss of T-reg function by age results in difficulty with the control of the immune response, increased inflammation as shown in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as an inflammatory storm. Also, the thymus is typically able to replace the T cells destroyed by apoptosis caused by the virus. Thymus and T cells are the key factors of pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in children. Since thymus activity and T lymphocyte function in children protect them against the virus effects, stimulating and preventing the inhibition of the thymus can be possible treatment components against COVID-19.

This paper aims to examine mental health in conjunction with physical health during the COVID‐19 pandemic among youth with physical health conditions compared to those without. A cross‐sectional survey of 622 youth aged 14 to 28 was conducted. Analyses were conducted to understand the changes in mental and physical health among youth in four groups: (a) participants with a friend or family member diagnosed with COVID‐19, (b) participants with symptoms associated with COVID‐19, (c) participants with atopic conditions (asthma and allergies), and (d) participants with other preexisting physical health conditions.